Syn-kinematic magma ascent and batholith inflation (Sierra de San Luis/Argentina)

Abstract

The measurement of the anisotropy of the magnetic susceptibility (AMS) is now routinely used since more than four decades in the analyses of rock fabrics in granitic rocks (e.g. Stacy 1960, Henry 1975, Gleizes et al. 1993). Even though the intensity of fabrics in granitoids is often weakly developed the significance of orientation and shape of crystals is the same like in other deformed rock types. By revealing the distribution of fabrics in plutonic rocks one of the still ongoing discussions in granite tectonics may be addressed: How did those sometimes voluminous batholiths were inflated in the middle crust? We are presenting magnetic fabric data on a series of Devonian batholiths that intruded the polyphase deformed metaclastites of the Sierra de San Luis (32°100– 33°200 S / 65°150 – 66°200 W) in central Argentina. Regional considerations on the tectonic regime during the emplacement of the batholiths are inferred from combined field, microstructural and AMS observations...